Zhuo Hanchen chuckled dryly and said, "Hui Zhifeng is just too soft-hearted. What's the point of telling them? It'll only make them more timid."
Ji Nabi understood and said with a light laugh, "Right, when enemies meet on a narrow road, the brave win. We're not telling them for the sake of their morale."
Lü Luyu twitched her slightly upturned nose and said dismissively, "They're just Starry Sky Marines, so what if they die? They don't even count towards the casualty rate… Brother Hui is just too kind-hearted, but he's using it in the wrong place."
Hui Zhifeng glanced at them without arguing and said, "I'll go down and take a look."
"Zhifeng!" Chu Qingchen quickly stopped him and said, "It's too dangerous down there. Just stay on the Airship and command from here."
The Hui Family was a viscount family.
The Beichen Empire had a total of ninety viscounts, corresponding to ninety viscount families, among which were the four most prominent viscounts.
The head of the four great viscounts was the Chu Family.
Chu Qingchen was the head of the Chu Family and the first heir to the Chu Family's viscount title.
Therefore, Chu Qingchen was the leader of the five of them.
However, Hui Zhifeng's Hui Family was also among the four great viscounts, second only to the Chu Family.
Hui Zhifeng was also the first heir to the Hui Family's viscount title.
They also valued Hui Zhifeng's words.
Hui Zhifeng said without turning his head, "It's okay, I can also wear a Mecha. Besides, I'm a Gene Evolver with Rank B Peak Mental Strength. Maybe I can break through after going out."
The four watched Hui Zhifeng leave.
After he left, Zhuo Hanchen said a little uncertainly, "...He wouldn't be thinking of doing something rash, would he..."
Lü Luyu pouted and said, "He's not an idiot, is he?! Such an easy merit to pick up, why would he be thinking of doing something rash?!"
She looked at Hui Zhifeng's back, her eyes narrowed unkindly.
Her family intended to marry the Hui Family, but Hui Zhifeng didn't seem to have any special feelings for her.
And the Lü Family had more than just her as a daughter…
...
At this time, outside the Airship, the five thousand Starry Sky Marines had reached the designated ambush location.
They really didn't know that the attacking Shang People and their accomplices had conventional Thermal Weapons.
The radar scan converted into a visual image that Chu Qingchen had shown them earlier was not very clear in the first place, and it had also been cut and edited, so they didn't see anything different about those Shang People.
They were all wearing tall Mechas, and they hadn't dug trenches outside these past two days.
So the so-called ambush was just hiding in the nearby mutated marine plant forest.
Fortunately, it was the middle of the night, and there was no bright moonlight and starlight like yesterday.
Thick clouds floated in the sky at some point, making the night darker than usual.
These five thousand Starry Sky Marines were not afraid of the dark, and they had fought many battles. Although they lost more than they won, they could be considered battle-hardened.
However, this was the first time they had experienced such a geographical environment.
Several Marine Corps team leaders reminded in the Mecha's built-in communication channel, "The environment of Senze Star is abnormal, remember not to damage the Mecha."
"Everyone has seen Qian Song's miserable state. He only went out for a few minutes, and he was completely done for..."
These Starry Sky Marines thought of their comrade Qian Song's miserable state and secretly became more vigilant.
They all knew about Genetic Disease, but even the most powerful Genetic Disease in the Beichen Empire didn't develop so quickly.
It was as if this person's Gene chain had been completely disrupted all at once…
Another team leader said softly, "Everyone is just working a job as Marine Corps. Just fight the way you usually do."
"Same old rules, retreat if you can't win."
Some Starry Sky Marines chuckled softly.
They didn't feel so nervous anymore.
That's right, fight as you usually would.
Their First Interstellar Fleet wasn't a bunch of idiots like the Fifth Interstellar Fleet.
They cherished their lives the most.
The reason they had survived until now was due to two words: "cherish life."
Just then, the figures of the Shang People and their accomplices in the distance appeared in the infrared night vision of their mecha.
The first to appear were likely the vanguard of the Shang People and their accomplices.
The Shang People looked just like they had seen in the videos, a combination of various human limbs.
But the Shang People's accomplices were different.
They couldn't see their faces clearly because they were all wearing helmets that completely covered their faces.
But their bodies...
The Starry Sky Marines gasped.
Were those human bodies?
Although they were also wearing battle armor, it didn't cover their entire bodies.
Therefore, they saw that the Shang People's accomplices seemed to have membranous wings on their backs, thick limbs, and what looked like a tail dragging behind their bodies, making them appear quite long.
"What species is this?"
Everyone whispered.
Then, they clearly saw the equipment of these attackers.
It wasn't the wooden sticks and stones they had expected! They saw that the Shang People and their accomplices were carrying guns! They looked like some kind of rifles and submachine guns! This was really screwed up!
The Starry Sky Marines had not anticipated this situation at all.
They looked at each other.
Although they couldn't see each other's faces, they could see two words on each other's mecha helmets: "retreat."
The captains of these Marine Corps were not ambiguous and immediately said, "Situation changed, prepare to retreat."
Then they sent a message to Chu Qingchen and the others in the Airship.
[Marine Corps Team One Captain Fang Ping]: First Lieutenant Chu, the attackers have conventional Thermal Weapons. How many are there? Should we change our combat strategy?
Chu Qingchen smiled slightly when he saw this message.
He deliberately waited for five minutes before replying slowly.
[Chu Qingchen]: There are about forty thousand of them. Although they have conventional Thermal Weapons, judging by the style, they are all our discarded ones. You have mecha, so don't worry.
[Chu Qingchen]: Do not change the combat strategy. You should take the initiative while their main force hasn't arrived yet!
The Marine Corps captain shook his head with a wry smile when he saw Chu Qingchen's message, thinking that they only had five thousand people, while the Shang People and their accomplices had forty thousand, and they were all equipped with conventional Thermal Weapons.
They did have mecha, but these mecha were just regular mecha.
They had a certain degree of protection against the bullets of those conventional Thermal Weapons, but they were not completely bulletproof.
As long as the enemy kept shooting, they could also penetrate the regular mecha.
Even discarded old weapons were still Thermal Weapons, only with poorer intelligence, but the firepower was just as fierce.
And the disadvantage of the Marine Corps was that they were not Gene Evolvers.
As soon as the regular mecha were damaged, the ubiquitous nuclear radiation would immediately damage their bodies.
If Qian Song's state was the norm after experiencing the nuclear radiation here, then their attrition would be very serious.
They were already at a disadvantage in terms of numbers, and if they added a large number of casualties, how could they fight this battle? It was obvious that they would be sending food to the enemy, and their entire army would be wiped out.
The captain decided to fire a few shots and retreat, otherwise, they would all be finished here.
After making his decision, he communicated Chu Qingchen's words and his own thoughts to the other captains.
Everyone unanimously agreed with his view.
So they quietly approached the teams they each led, preparing to fire a few shots as a feint before retreating.
Just then, the approaching Shang People and their accomplices passed by the grove of marine plants where they were hiding.
Although they were there to launch a sneak attack, their ranks were disorganized and sparse.
They didn't resemble the Regular Army of the Beichen Empire at all.
Perhaps they had only recently been formed into a unit?
The Starry Sky Marines of the First Interstellar Fleet silently observed from within the mutated marine plant grove.
At that moment, the Shang People at the front and their accomplices began to speak, and they were speaking in Beichen Language!
One of the Shang People said in a strange accent, "...Over there, Airship, how many?"
Although his accomplice beside him was wearing a helmet, obscuring his face, his Beichen Language sounded authentic.
He said, "According to intelligence, there are five Airships here, and there are also five Airships each at two other locations."
"Each Airship can carry at least ten thousand of our soldiers, and then we can reach their Starry Sky Cruisers parked in the high altitude without anyone noticing, and enter the Beichen Empire's star system."
Another Shang Person spoke Beichen Language well, without any accent.
He said excitedly, "They won't check their own Starships!"
"As long as we seize their Starships, we can directly strike into the Beichen Empire!"
"We can occupy at least one planet!"
"If we're lucky, we can occupy two!"
His accomplice scoffed, "Don't get your hopes up. Occupying one would be good enough. Besides, do you even have that many Shang People?"
The Shang Person dismissively said, "We don't now, but once we get to the Beichen Empire's planets, all those humans will be breeding stock!"
"We'll round them all up to breed offspring for us, and we'll immediately have hundreds of millions of Shang People!"
"Then we'll seize the other planets of the Beichen Empire and replace the entire population of the Beichen Empire. It'll only take a few years!"
These words made the Starry Sky Marines widen their eyes.
What?! These Shang People and their accomplices were planning to seize their Airships and Cruisers, and then take the opportunity to strike into the Beichen Empire?! The Shang People and their accomplices didn't specify which planet of the Beichen Empire they were targeting.
They didn't think these guys had the ability to attack their Capital Star, Beichen Star.
But at least four of the Beichen Empire's five planets would be in danger, all within their attack range.
And most of these Starry Sky Marines of the First Interstellar Fleet were from Cangge Star and Shaofu Star, with a small number from Kanli Star, and none from Guiyuan Star or Beichen Star.
Therefore, their hearts instantly felt heavy.
The faces of the team leaders changed drastically.
If that was the case, should they still retreat? They immediately began discussing it in the Mecha's built-in internal communication system.
One said, "Everyone, can we believe what these Shang People and their accomplices are saying?"
Another said, "The problem now is that even if it's not all true, there's some truth to it."
Another said, "That's right, even if only one in ten thousand is true, we can't afford that kind of loss!"
This is the second update. There will be a new update at 0:05 tonight.
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